South Africa
by Cardell K. Jacobson , Acheampong Yaw Amoateng , Tim B. Heaton
Scholars have examined the rising rate of inter-ethnic and inter-racial marriage from several different theoretical perspectives. we examine the intergroup marriage patterns in a highly segregated and racially conscious society, the
country of South Africa. We then examine the relationship between socioeconomic status and inter-group marriage. We also examine inter-group marriages between linguistic groups. Finally, we examine the socioeconomic status of children born to multiracial couples in South Africa, thus projecting the implications of these marriages for the next generation.
A Brief History of Race in South Africa
Although patterns of power and dominance in South African society were always evident, the relationships between people of different races in South Africa were more relaxed throughout the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth centuries than they were in the last half of the twentieth century (Thompson 1990). Several commentators have noted that hundreds of the most prominent Afrikaner white families either intermarried with nonwhites in the early history of South Africa or they have mixed racial ancestry. These relationships were often the result of white bachelors living on frontier farms and
seeking the company of nonwhite women. Although such interracial sexual encounters and mixed marriages were confined to a minority, these practices were by no means uncommon in early South Africa (Attwell, 1986).The incidence of interracial marriages gradually became less common, and in the mid-twentieth century, after the victory of the National party and the subsequent consolidation of white political power in 1948, it became strikingly less common. To eliminate every vestige of black African participation in the central political system and to fulfill Afrikaner ethnic goals as well as white racial goals, the National party passed a series of legislative acts between 1948 and 1960 that had a profound impact on
race relations in the country (Thompson 1990). Among the myriad laws which gave expression to apartheid, the policy of separating the different race groups, were the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 and the Immorality Act of 1950.
These two pieces of legislation had the effect of creating legal boundaries between the races and by making marriage and sexual relations across the color lines illegal.
Two related pieces of legislation, the Population Registration and Group Areas Acts, passed in 1950, also had serious implications for the incidence of marriages across the color line. The Population Registration Act provided the machinery to designate the racial category of every person, but its application sometimes led to the breaking up of homes. Within one family one person could be classified white while another was classified coloured. Under the Group Areas Act, the government divided urban areas into zones where members of only one race could live and work. In many cases areas that had previously been occupied by African blacks were zoned for exclusive white occupation (Thompson 1990). Under these laws, mixed-race couples suffered humiliation, lack of privacy, and degradation by the police (Du Pre, 1994). Police commonly followed individuals, particularly Africans and coloureds, to see whether they were sleeping with members of other designated races. Couples were awakened in the early hours of the morning for police to examine their identity documents to ensure that sleeping partners were of the same race. Moreover, policemen were rude and uncouth and made insulting remarks. Even whites and nonwhites of the opposite sex who traveled in the same car faced the danger of being followed by the police and being arrested on suspicion of contravening the Immorality Act (Du Pre, 1994). Besides the formal penalties of harsh jail terms, police intimidation and harassment for contravening the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages and Immorality Acts, mixed couples faced rejection by their families, friends, and community. For instance, Alibhai-Brown and Montague (1992) report the personal experience of Ethal, a former prostitute who married an African man. She recalled that her white friends could accept her when she was a woman of the street, but not when she was married to a nice, educated African man. She said, "I
hated the way the family was treated" (Alibhai-Brown & Montague 1992:69). With the repeal of the apartheid-era racial laws beginning in the late ...
USA
Melting pot or racial divide? The growth of interracial marriages is slowing among U.S-born Hispanics and Asians. Still, blacks are substantially more likely than before to marry whites. The number of interracial marriages in the U.S. has risen 20 percent since 2000 to about 4.5 million, according to the latest census figures. While still growing, that number is a marked drop-off from the 65 percent increase between 1990 and 2000. About 8 percent of U.S. marriages are mixed race, up from 7 percent in 2000. The latest trend belies notions of the U.S. as a post-racial, assimilated society. Demographers cite a steady flow of recent immigration that has given Hispanics and Asians more ethnically similar partners to choose while creating some social distance from whites due to cultural differences and foreign language. White wariness toward a rapidly growing U.S. minority population also may be contributing to racial divisions, experts said.
"Racial boundaries are not going to disappear anytime soon," said Daniel Lichter, a professor of sociology and public policy at Cornell University. He noted the increase in anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks as well as current tensions in Arizona over its new immigration law.
"With a white backlash toward immigrant groups, some immigrants are more likely to turn
inward to each other for support," Lichter said.
In contrast, blacks are now three times more likely to marry whites than in 1980. About 14.4 percent of black men and 6.5 percent of black women are currently in such mixed marriages, due to higher educational attainment, a more racially integrated military and a rising black middle class that provides more interaction with other races.
• Mixed marriages jumped from 2.25 million to 3.7 million, or 65 percent, from 1990-2000, as such unions became more broadly accepted in Southern states.
• Among U.S.-born whites, about 0.3 percent married blacks in 1980; that figure rose to about 1 percent in 2008. About 0.3 percent of whites married Asians in 1980 and about 1 percent in 2008. About 2 percent of whites married Hispanics in 1980, rising to about 3.6 percent in 2008.
For children that didn’t witness the apartheid era in South Africa and those kids who didn’t witness the atrocities of racial segregation in America it is easier to inter marry and to accept the mate as human and with that comes phrases like "I see nothing wrong with them as long as 2 people love each other then there's nothing wrong"
NOW HAVING SAID THIS... DO YOU THINK INTER RACIA MARRAGE IS HERE TO STAY, DO YOU THINK SUCH MARRAGES AND UNIONS ARE FREE FROM COMMUNITY ISOLATION? TELL ME YOUR VIEW.
